Noi scores 19, TCU trails early and beats Oklahoma St. 90-70

By LARY BUMP

Feb. 18, 2018

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Vladimir Brodziansky was a known quantity in the Big 12. Not so Kouat Noi and Ahmad Hamdy-Mohamed.

Redshirt freshman Noi scored a season-high 19 points to lead six players in double figures and TCU stormed back from an early 12-point deficit to beat Oklahoma State 90-70 on Saturday night.

"I don't know about the first 10 minutes," Horned Frogs coach Jamie Dixon said, "but the last 30 were fun to watch."

TCU (18-9, 6-8 Big 12 Conference) won for just the fifth time in its last 13 games. OSU (15-12, 5-9) has lost six of eight.

Senior Brodziansky had 14 points, three rebounds and two blocked shots.

Hamdy, a graduate transfer from Virginia Commonwealth, had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. He also got the crowd going as the Frogs took over the game late in the first half.

Noi shot 7 for 9 from the field, including 3 for 5 on 3-pointers. He has reached double figures in seven of the last eight games.

"It's just playing more aggressive, being calm," Noi said.

The win marked the first time the Horned Frogs have beaten Oklahoma State twice in one season.

Kenrich Williams scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half for the Horned Frogs. Alex Robinson scored 11 and had nine assists, and Desmond Bane had 10 points.

Kendall Smith led the Cowboys with 21 points, 14 in the second half. Mitchell Solomon scored the first seven points of the game and finished with 13.

The Horned Frogs missed their first nine field-goal attempts in the first five minutes while Oklahoma State built a 14-2 lead. For the final 15 minutes of the half, TCU was 13-for-19 shooting (68 percent).

Dixon said the message in a timeout 3:42 into the game was simple.

"We just challenged them," Dixon said.

The message got through to Williams.

"The coaches said we had to play harder, defend harder. We picked up our defensive intensity."

The Cowboys made seven of their first 10 shots but went 15 for 50 thereafter.

OSU still led 24-15 midway through the first half before TCU went on a 14-4 run to take the lead for the first time.

The Horned Frogs hit halftime with a 39-36 lead. Noi had 11 points and six rebounds to lead TCU at intermission.

Solomon didn't score again in the first half after his game-opening spurt. He played just six minutes and was one of three Oklahoma State players with three fouls before halftime. At 6-foot-9, he's the tallest starter for the Cowboys, who couldn't stop 6-11 Brodziansky and 6-10 Hamdy-Mohamed inside.

Williams made a 3-pointer to start the second-half scoring, and the Cowboys never got closer than 42-39. TCU's lead reached 10 points at 49-39 and 20 points at 79-59.

BIG PICTURE

Oklahoma State: The Cowboys' NCAA Tournament hopes took another hit with their sixth loss in eight games. After playing seventh-ranked Texas Tech, OSU's three remaining games are against Big 12 teams it beat the first time through the schedule. "It would be hard for me to talk about the NCAA Tournament after the way we played tonight," coach Mike Boynton Jr. said.

TCU: The Frogs enhanced their chances for an NCAA Tournament bid. They still must play Texas Tech, a Big 12 co-leader with Kansas, in the final regular-season game.

CROWD FAVORITE

Hamdy-Mohamed missed his first five free throws before sinking four in a row within 32 seconds for a 35-32 TCU lead late in the first half. The Egyptian-born player had made 34 of first 41 this season but was in a 3-for-14 slump after Saturday's five misses.

The crowd erupted in a roar after his first successful free throw and chanted his name after the last three.

"It was all mental," Hamdy-Mohamed said. "That's why I was missing. Then when the crowd got into it, it gave me more confidence."

CARROLL JOINS CLUB

Jeffrey Carroll led Oklahoma State with eight rebounds and scored eight points. He became the 14th Cowboy to rank in the career top 25 in both categories, with 1,269 points and 517 rebounds.